Reasonable residents of Colorado can all breathe a sigh of relief now that the personhood movement has failed for a third time to garner enough support for a ballot measure that would suggest giving fertilized eggs the same rights as people.

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According to Colorado's Secretary of State Scott Gessler, the push to make fertilized eggs legal people fell short by about 4,000 of the 86,105 signatures required to qualify for the ballot in November. This latest blow to the bustling Personhood USA movement comes after Ohio, Oregon, Nevada, Montana, Florida, California and even ultra-conservative Mississippi rejected similar measures. Though the it takes direct aim at abortion, medical experts say that a personhood amendment could definitely restrict women's access to medical services such as birth control and fertility treatment.

The Personhood USA folks remained undeterred, however, because they have appropriated that American "can-do" attitude for their awful cause. Jennifer Mason, a spokesperson for Personhood USA, has even told the Guardian that the organization believes it had drummed up enough votes to get a personhood measure on Colorado's ballot, but that, perhaps due to a notary error, 4,000 votes simply disappeared (the organization has hired an attorney to challenge the initial signature count). Assuming such legal avenues don't prove fruitful, look for Personhood to keep trying to gain momentum as it cobbles together a ballot measure one unsettling signature at a time.